Wissahickon starts fast, handles Norristown
WEST NORRITON >> Thursday’s Suburban One League American Conference matchup between Wissahickon and Norristown was over before you could even get settled into your seat.
The Trojans (3-5, 3-2) pushed five runs across the plate in the top of the first innings and that was more than enough with ace pitcher Logan Willans on the mound.
Wissahickon eased its way to a 7-1 win at Norristown Area High School.
“The game was over in the first inning,” Norristown coach Rich Campbell said. “There’s not much else to do after that. They get five in the first, we go down meekly looking at pitches and they are up 5-0. Logan has nothing to worry about. He just cruises and pitches to contact… It happens. We’ll be ready for them next time.”
Blake Rapoport and Alex Tappen reached base to start the game against Norristown’s ace Nick Edling. Matt Shilling laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners and that was just the start of Wissahickon’s small-ball.
The next two batters – Mike Schoelneber and Jeremy Spittle – each laid down safety squeezes to score Rapoport and Tappen and they each reached base themselves.
“Two safety squeezes in the beginning to start things off,” Wissahickon coach John Bernhardt said. “It was one of those things. We were going to do it a third time in a row … until they stop it let’s keep rolling with it.”
“They bunted us to death,” Campbell said. “We’ve worked on bunt defense … We spent the whole first hour of our practice (Wednesday) on bunt defense. Then they got really good bunts down and to their credit, they beat them out and we misplayed a couple.”
With runners on second and third with two outs and a 2-0 lead, Eddie Fortescue came through for the Trojans. The freshman ripped a two-run single to double the lead and give his team a comfortable advantage.
“Freshman Eddie Fortescue comes up,” Bernhardt said. “That’s the biggest hit of the game. That two-out, two-run single in the first. Eddie comes up, two strikes, goes the other way. It’s awesome. (The team) really clicked today.”
Fortescue advanced to second on the throw home, third on a wild pickoff move and scored when the outfielder tried to throw him out at third, making it a 5-0 game in the top of the first.
Wissahickon added another in the top of the second when Tappen hit a solo home run, his first of the year.
Tappen was batting in the number two spot for the first time this season. He went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, one RBI and a walk.
“We shuffled everything,” Bernhardt said. “Teams have done a great job pitching around Blake (Rapoport) and Alex (Tappen). They haven’t been getting much protection. Today I just said let’s get the two big dogs at the front and make them go right at both of them. They put Blake on, they have to go to Alex – they have to come at him. It worked out, big time.”
Wissahickon’s other run came in the top of the fourth. Shilling, who went 3-for-3, singled home Rapoport to make it 7-0.
For Willians, all he needed was the first inning, which was more run support than he had gotten through the first three weeks of the season combined.
“It’s great,” he said of pitching with the run support. “Even if you’re throwing and you give up a run, you still have runs behind you. You don’t have to worry as much.”
The right-hander threw a complete game, allowing just one run on five hits. He struck out five, walked two and hit one batter.
“My curveball was working pretty well,” Willans said. “I was able to spot it up and even on a full count I was able to throw it for a strike.”
“Logan is Logan,” Bernhardt said. “I told my assistant if we get two runs, we’re going to win this ballgame. Seven was just a luxury to have. He’s just so consistent. He never gets rattled.”
His biggest jam was in the top of the fifth inning. He allowed three straight two-out singles to load the bases when the game was 7-1. He forced a groundout to end Norristown’s scoring threat.
The Eagles (4-3, 2-2) lone run came in the fourth inning. Terell Dale reached on an error, stole second and got to third when the throw went into centerfield. Dominic Proietto singled him home for Norristown’s first run and hit of the game.
Edling threw six innings in the loss. He surrendered 10 hits, two walks and two hit batters while striking out three.
“We’ll get everything straightened out,” Campbell said. “It’s still early in the season. We’re still in a great position. We’re 2-2 in our conference. We’re playing really well. Other than that first inning it was a really close game, a 2-1 game over the last six innings, basically. So we’ll take that and move on from here. We’ll hold our heads high and just know we’ll be playing them strong next time we play them.”
